Declared
by Mikan-senpai
Summary: What does it mean to care about someone this much? Why is there pain when you know you're hurting someone? and why can't I stop? Kai x Claire
1. Chapter 1

The first chapter of one of the short stories. Er, maybe somewhat long stories.. ^^; I do NOT own Harvest Moon. (:

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Popuri. The adorable, pink haired girl that I had dated every summer, for about two years. Her brother, Rick, well, he _loathed_ me. He thought that his little sister shouldn't be involved with a guy like me. I guess he was right, but I didn't want to admit it. You see, she was irresistible. Her cotton-candy pink her, her sparkling pink eyes—her smell, her sweet, bubbly personality. I fell hard for her, but she didn't deserve a guy who only came around during summer. She needed to find someone else to be with. Was that was so hard to realize…? I guess it was, because I had to force myself to walk down to the Poultry farm. "You got your wish, Rick." I growled under my breath as I knocked on the tall wooden door. One, two, three knocks. Rick answered. "What the hell do you want?" he snapped, and adjusted his glasses, for they were sliding down his face. "I need to see your sister." I said smoothly—but it obviously just made him angrier. "She's in bed, she's sleeping in today." Rick said. I decided to piss him off some more. "Great, I think I'll join her." I smirked, and pushed past him. "Damn you Kai! Leave my sister alone!" Rick yelled. My eyes darkened. "Just what I intend to do…" I muttered under my breath. His raised voice had obviously woken up Lillia and Popuri. The young girl ran down the stairs and jumped into my arms. "Kai! I missed you sooooo much!" she cried, burying her heart-shaped face into my shoulder. "I… I missed you too Ri-Ri." I said softly. "Good morning, Kai!" called out Lillia with a soft spoken voice. "Good morning! How are you doing, Lillia? It was quite unpleasant, not seeing you and Ri-Ri for so long. Do you need any help?" Ri-Ri was my nickname for Popuri. "No, but thank you dear. I'm perfectly alright getting down my stairs." She smiled. "Popuri… can I talk to you outside?" it pained me to say it. "Sure!" she said. But I saw Rick give his mother a worried glance.

"What is it, Kai?" she asked. Was there… joy in her voice? Shit. She probably thought I was proposing to her. Dammit! "Popuri, this has been great… but… you don't deserve a guy like me. I don't want to hurt you." Her red eyes teared up. "No Kai! No! don't leave me!" she cried. "Baby, I'm sorry. But your brother is right. Goodbye, Popuri." I kissed the top of her head, and walked away. I couldn't look back. I couldn't see her cry and know that it was my fault.

I sat behind my counter at my shop, and waited. It was rather pointless, because barely anyone ever showed up. I sighed, and turned around, opening the freezer. I got the ingrediants, and made a snow cone. The door opened. "Umm… Hi," a girl that I had never seen before said. "Welcome!" I greeted. "Hi, I'm Claire." She said, her long blonde hair swishing around her shoulders. Her eyes were blue. She was pretty cute, I had to admit. I turned on my charm. "I'm Kai! I run this shop." Damn, I was losing it. "Would you like a snow cone? Free of charge, of course, for you." I smiled refreshingly at her. Claire's face shone. "Thank you so much!" she sat down on the stool. "What flavor?" I asked. "Pineapple, please." She said. My face was slightly twisted in shock. "R-really? That's my favorite too." I said. I handed her the snow cone. She slightly looked away, and I could see tears in her eyes. "Claire! What's wrong?" I asked, lightly touching her shoulder. She flinched at my touch, but didn't draw away, and looked at me. "It's just… no one's ever been so nice to me before." She murmured. "Thank you, Kai." I quickly made myself one, and sat down next to her. We ate our desserts in silence, I think Claire didn't know what to say. I didn't either, but it wasn't awkward. It was more of… a peaceful silence.

"Thank you Kai, it was very nice meeting you. I'll be visiting you again!" she smiled and walked out of the shop. I looked at her seat—there was something sticking out. I gently removed it. she smiled and walked out of the shop. I looked at her seat—there was something sticking out. I gently removed it. 500 gold. I shook my head and grinned.

The next day, I sat at the end of the dock, my hands running through my hair. I tied my bandana back around my head as I heard footsteps. Rick was storming up to me. "Why did you do that to Popuri you bastard?!" he yelled. "I thought you didn't want me to be with Popuri." I said coldly, emotionlessly. "You made her cry—I'll make you pay." I closed my eyes, my fists clenching into balls. "No Rick. You can't do anything to me." Fury shaded every inch of my tone. Rick then promptly punched me in the face. "What the hell Rick?!" someone yelled. I looked. It was Claire. She ran up to me. "Stop it! You have no reason to hurt him! I know what happened, Popuri herself told me! He did what you wanted him to do, so why the hell are you so determined to hate him anyway?" she sort of broke down, collapsing. Tears ran down her face. "You got your way, why Rick? He did what you wanted him to do so why, why?" I bent down and attempted to pick her up. She flinched. "Damn you Kai," he muttered, and stormed off. I picked up the limp girl and took her inside my shop, laying her down in the back room. I had a nice living area in there, but I liked sleeping at the Inn for some reason.

I went to the front of the store, to make her some tea. I had just about finished, when Popuri walked in, followed by over half of the town. "Welcome!" I called out, smiling welcomingly to the people. There was hardly enough room for them all, but somehow they fit. I pulled Popuri aside. "What is this?" I asked. "I thought you might want some more customers!" she said happily. "This is a little much, Popuri." I said, probably sounding harsh. Her face fell when I called her by her first name, not the pet name I gave her after our first summer. She left the building quietly. I needed help, and instantly thought of Claire. I woke her up, and asked for her help. "W-what am I doing here?" I explained. "Yes, of course!" she followed me out obediently, and went to take Gourmet's order. We rushed back and forth, taking orders, serving food. It was pretty tough, even with Claire's help. But I was happy, finally, everyone in Mineral Town had come.

Ready to clean up, I looked around to see what mess the villagers had made. From the looks of it, Claire was already cleaning. "Claire, sweet heart, you're exhausted, why don't you go home and rest?" I said to her. She shook her head. "No, I need to help. I may be tired, but that doesn't matter. At all. It's my responsibility to clean up after myself." She said those words assuredly, but there was a weary tune in her voice. "Seriously, you passed out on the beach when Rick and I were arguing." I looked at her sternly. "This is my shop, I will clean up. Go home, Claire." She refused, so I scooped her up and ran out of the shop, laughing to show her it was okay.

"You nasty pervert." Said someone, and I felt something hard hit my head. When I opened my eyes Gray was standing over me with an iron pan in his hands. "What the hell was that for, Gray?!" I yelled. "Being a pervert." He said simply. "Where's Claire?" Gray shoved her over to me. "Are you okay?" I asked. "I'm f-fine." She mumbled. "Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Gray! That idiot Saibara is my grandfather…" he said loudly. "Gray… Are you drunk?" I asked astounded. "Er.. I dunno." He mumbled, his enthusiasm disappearing. "Sorry, he's not usually like this… ha ha…" I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Come on, Claire. Let's take you home." I walked her to her house, happy I could help.

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Erm, it ended quite... well, I don't really like the ending to the chapter much, but owell... New chapter coming up soon! (:


	2. Chapter 2

Claire awoke in her bed the next morning, tucked in nicely. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching. She smelled something. Cooking? Astounded, Claire kicked off the covers and stumbled sleepily into the kitchen. A handsome young man, wearing baggy purple pants, and a white shirt was cooking. A few strands of dark hair peeked out from under his purple bandana. "K-Kai?" gasped Claire, her eyes wide. Kai looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. She had to admit, she was a bit blown away. Grabbing an old, rolled up newspaper she smacked him on the head. "Oww…" he whined, and rubbed his head. "Why are you in my house?!" Claire yelled. She started coughing heavily and had to use the table as support, for the coughs were shaking her body. "Claire! Claire, are you okay?" Kai asked turning off the stove. He scooped up the two omelets, dividing them onto two plates, and placed one in front of Claire. "I know why you're so fragile, Claire." He said quietly. "You need to eat more, trust me. How much do you weigh?" Claire looked at him wearily. "seventy-five pounds." Kai ran his fingers over his bandana. That was less then even he had guessed. "Try this. You _know_ my cooking can't be beat."

After breakfast, Kai asked Claire a rather personal question. "Hey, Claire. Before you came here, where did you live?" Claire closed her eyes. She wanted to block out the shadowy figures that she'd tried to erase from her memory, but they threatened to overwhelm her. "I lived on in island, with my brother Mark. I don't know how I got there…" she trailed off, and then her face lit up. "I remember now! There was a storm, and the boat crashed, and someone saved me from drowning. They put in a bed the next morning, but disappeared. I never got to thank him…" her blue eyes now had a sad tint to them. "Whoever it was, saved my life. Without them I would have been gone forever." Kai put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She winced at his touch. He drew back, looking concerned. "Claire…" she stood up shakily. "Whatever. I need to take care of my animals." She said somewhat angrily, and stormed out of the house, heading to the barn.

Should I tell her… that person was me? I wondered to myself. I couldn't believe that I, Kai, had saved the girl I now thought I loved, years ago. I remembered her…

_I sat on the dock, ignoring the storm around me, feeling free as the sea spray hit my face. My cousin, Denny sat next to me. He looked like me, but he would always carry around a stupid bird on his shoulder. "Hey, Kai. Come on, we need to go inside. It's getting really windy, you're so puny the wind could blow you away." He said. I shook my head. "Come on! You're ten, you're too little to be outside alone!" he said, irritated. I picked up a rock and threw it at his stupid bird. Denny obviously was very angry, but didn't say anything. Instead, he stomped to his house and slammed the door like a child. I smirked, kicking my legs in the surf. A huge wave crashed onto me, but I wasn't afraid. The ocean was my friend! I loved it. And I knew that I wanted to travel around the ocean for the rest of my life. Well, not only the ocean. The whole world! There are so many things to be explored, so many different people… it just sounded like so much fun! I though, as I sat there, soaked from head to toe. Another wave came, but this time, as it passed over me, something hit me. "Oww!" I yelled, and grabbed it. It was a broken plank. A sunken ship?! I wondered in amazement. I saw something. It… it looked almost like a person. It was a person! I didn't wait to take off my clothes, and dove into the thrashing waves. I swam as fast as I could, and being a great swimmer, even at ten, I reached the body quickly. It… it was a girl! She had blonde hair, two long pigtails on the sides of her head, bangs, and she was wearing a very light bluw tank top, a black skirt, and thigh-high socks. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to shore, proceeding with CPR. She gasped, coughing up water and debris that consisted of mainly bits of seaweed and more seaweed. She opened her eyes. They were large, and blue. Although, they were tinted with green. She started breathing normally, and closed her eyes again. I picked her up, and pounded on Denny's door. Obviously, he was still angry at me, and had not only left a ten year old in the middle of a storm on a beach, but also locked him out. I got a firm grip on her, and carried her into town. "I bet that guy, Mark, would take care of her." Then I realized, this was probably his little sister that he'd been talking about. She was supposed to come live with him any day now. I steadied myself, and headed to his farm. _

_When I reached his house, the door was locked, and the storm was too loud for him to hear me, so I didn't even try to knock. I sat the girl down, and tried to keep her warm. Something in a bushes rustled. A gray-haired kid strolled up to me. "Need help?" he asked, and without waiting for my reply, skillfully unlocked the door. "T-thanks." I said. "No need. After all, thieves aren't thieves if they can't break in!" he laughed, and almost seemed to disappear into the night. I pushed the door open quietly, and headed over to the bed. Mark had rolled out of bed, he was on the floor snoring. I snickered, then stepped over him. I lay the girl down in her bed and tucked her in, then left silently. I then knew, it was my duty to travel the world and lend a helping hand when someone needed one. Luckily for me, the storm had calmed down, and the sea was but a gentle caress. When I reached the beach, I got on Denny's boat and cut all ties to the little island, sailing away._

God, why? I had no idea what to do. Should I tell her it was me, and have to come up with a reason why I disappeared? She'd probably tell Mark, and he would tell Denny. Man, Denny would be pissed. Wait, that was an understatement. Even though me and my stupid parents fought a lot, even when I was a kid, they would have been furious that he'd lost his little cousin. I had seen my parents since then. They were the one's who had payed for my shop on the beach, in fact. I don't know why they would, though. They had never let it go unnoticed that they hated me. They didn't want me. I could never grow up to be as great as my big brother. He was going to law school, but then he was in a plane crash and died. I guess my parents just took their anger out on me, and blamed me for his death. They were really, really angry when they had heard back from me after six, seven years. That I'd been traveling the world. That I wasn't going to school, that I didn't have plans for going to collage. That I didn't have a future dad decided. Well screw them, I've got my own life now.

… What should I tell Claire?


End file.
